Skunk Control takes on the night

For a brief 24 hours Melbourne’s CBD will be transformed into a spectacular show of colour and light as White Night takes over the city.

For the very first time, Victoria University’s Skunk Control will take part in the dramatic transformation when their new large-scale piece Altar to the Future is installed in St Paul’s Cathedral. Between 7pm on Saturday 17 February and 7am on Sunday 18 February, approximately 600,000 people are expected to swarm the CBD.

Six metres high, Altar to the Future is a dazzling, colourful work that includes a rotating portal and delicate flowers that appear transparent one moment, but then suddenly in bloom, depending on the millions of ever-changing light fragments.

Made up of a team of Victoria University engineers and scientists, Skunk Control explores unknown territory – the space where science meets art. Based at Footscray Park campus Skunk Control take inspiration from technology, design, art, myths, science and engineering principles to create exquisitely detailed, highly original and immersive installations that leave audiences with a sense of wonderment.

Created entirely by hand, Altar to the Future took three months to create and includes:

Over 600 flowers

6,000 individual petals

144 branches

Over 12,000 LED lights.

Founder Nick Athanasiou from VU’s Learning, Innovation and Quality says that while many people think science and art are polar opposites, both ask audiences to ponder big questions.

“There is a place long thought forgotten, a portal to a vivid future that nestles in each one of us. Altar to the Future is that place. We invite audiences to re-engage in the dream.”

- Nick Athanasiou

Skunk Control continues to gain international attention since they formed in 2012. They have been a popular choice for some of the world’s most innovative festivals and have exhibited their work in New Zealand, Portugal, Lorne Sculpture Biennale, Laneway Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Gertrude Street Projection Festival and Light in Winter Festival.

Over the last two years Skunk Control were commissioned by Highpoint to create six original (Harvest Harbinger, Majestic Insurgence and Persistent Panacea) – large-scale installations that jolted shoppers out of their everyday reverie.

Victoria University acknowledges, recognises and respects the Ancestors, Elders and families of the Boonwurrung, Waddawurrung and Wurundjeri of the Kulin who are the traditional owners of University land in Victoria, and the Gadigal and Guring-gai of the Eora Nation who are the traditional owners of University land in Sydney.